Heroes of Olympus Evolution - First Contact
by P. Hanson
Summary: Alex Tragodia has an uncertain past, and a troubling future. He has talents that are not normal. He can see into what he calls the 'Shadow World' A seemingly parallel world of monsters, mythical beings and warriors. The monsters ignore him. The Warriors do not. He keeps to himself and watches, but its only so long before events overtake him. Related to PJ and the Aphrodite Trap.
1. Observe and Report

**Heroes of Olympus - Evolution**

**First Contact**

**By P.A Hanson**

**Prologue**

_I have been forced by circumstances beyond my control to write this diary. I can only hope if anyone finds this, that they take it seriously, and not just dismiss it as the fantastic ravings of a slightly odd fifteen year old boy. I have no one to talk to. No friends I can trust, and my parents, well, I'll get on to them later._

_My name is Alex Tragodia, I live in New York City with my mother and father, both Greek émigrés. I don't want anyone to misunderstand me here, I love my parents and they have loved me back, even with all the trouble I have given them, and for the most part, I was happy and content, but there was always something lurking in the back of my mind, a glimmer of a realisation that something was not right with my life. That glimmer has recently turned into stone cold certainty._

_Firstly let me talk about my parents, my father Iason and my mother Iro. They are quite young really, they moved to New York from Ithaca, Greece when they were only eighteen and I came along only a year later. My mother makes pottery and works from our home, a fifth floor apartment in a nice brownstone in Lenox Hill near 5__th__ Avenue and Central Park. God knows how they afforded it, it was just one of many of my many unanswered questions. My dad works for the Port Authority as a harbour pilot and had a miraculous escape from the World Trade Center after the attacks. He says it was a miracle, I disagreed with him for years because I didn't believe in such things, but now I really do believe it might be true. One thing I do know though is that they aren't my parents._

_Shocking? Paranoid? Maybe. I've never had the courage to ask them. At first I thought I might be adopted but now I'm not so sure. Why do I say this? Well, firstly, I'm not like them in any way. A perfect teenage answer I know, as all teenagers don't believe they could have possibly come from their parents, but I simply am so different it's beyond belief. They are trusting, diligent and carefree, whereas I'm paranoid, reckless and hyper alert all the time. I do things that confuse them greatly, I make decisions that confound them, but to me they make perfect sense. I see patterns in life and I see how situations will unfold many steps in advance, and it's only recently I have come to the realisation, that this ability is not normal. Unfortunately the same ability that allows me to effectively predict the short term future makes me hyper and edgy. The doctors say I have ADHD, needless to say, I disagree with their diagnosis. I have stunning vision, speed, balance and spatial awareness, better than anyone I have ever met, but my parents have none of this, they are so stunningly ordinary. The clincher is that I have vivid green eyes, and I simply don't look Greek. My parents look classically Greek with dark brown eyes and they must know that I have seen this, but they live in their own little bubble and I don't want to shatter it down around them. I stay out mostly and they say nothing._

_What do I do when I'm out? I have no friends so where do I go? Well I like to watch the world around me, and it's not just the comings and goings of New York City, but ever so more than that. For a few months now I have been able to see the world like no one else I have ever met. I call it the Shadow World, for lack of a better name, and it runs in parallel to our world, except only I can see it._

_I sit on the roofs of buildings and watch the world go by and I watch as the world completely ignores Ice Giants walking down 5__th__ Avenue, unicorns in Central Park being tended to by goat legged satyrs or fauns (I'm not sure of the difference, I had to look it up). I've seen kids with deadly looking weaponry wander around like they are out of some epic fantasy, and they have to fight off strange creatures at every turn. No one in the real world bats an eyelid. I feel a bit like Harry Potter, but this is no fictional magical world, this is real. The monsters seemed to not notice my presence, for which I was eternally glad, since I had no weaponry until recently, but the acquisition of the weapon may have cost me more than I could have imagined._

_So I watch the Shadow World. Then go home to have my dinner with my perfectly normal parents like nothing is different. One aspect of my parents has always fascinated me, their names, Iason and Iro, so I looked them up. One is a mythical hero and another literally comes from the Greek word for hero. I don't know if that means anything, I can't read an answer in to everything, but I get a tingle when I give it some thought, and to me that is usually a sign of something important. Unfortunately I get the same feeling when I consider my surname. Tragodia is the Greek for tragedy so I wonder if my future is to be a tragic hero, I will keep wondering my whole life, however long it turns out to be._

**Chapter One**

**Observe and report**

"Hi Harry."

"Alex! My boy!" Harry exclaimed happily. Harry always exclaimed happily. "What can I get you today? I've got the new X-Men comics in!" Harry ran the newspaper stand in the local square, and had done since long before I was born. To me he was older than god and to some looked slightly scary, but through his long white beard he projected friendliness that couldn't be faked. I liked to imagine it was just for me, I knew it wasn't but the thought kept me happy. Harry was one of the few people I liked in the city.

"Just the Post please Harry." I responded cheerily.

"You're growin' up do fast my boy!" He laughed while fetching me a New York Post.

"School assignments, Harry, ain't got time for comics much anymore." I lied.

"Well, that's me out of a job then! Dollar seventy-five please Alex."

I handed over the cash said my goodbyes and proceeded to head for one of my observation posts, putting the paper in my shoulder bag. One of my favourite haunts was the roof of an old brownstone overlooking Central Park. The building had been abandoned for years and was locked and boarded up with no chance of entry through any normal means. This did not stop me though. I walked around the back, climbed on a old dumpster and jumped five feet straight up and grabbed the downpipe. Climbing one floor, I grabbed hold of the fire escape and ascended seven floors and continued to the roof via the down pipe. The flat roof had some old sheds I could use for shelter and in which I had previously stashed supplies, I entered the biggest shed and grabbed my diary, binoculars and a couple of books. One book was an illustrated list of mythical creatures and the other was a book of Greek mythology that belonged to my dad. I pulled up a lawn chair and began to watch and make notes.

11:43pm

_The Satyrs are out in force again behind New York Zoo. They appear to be tending to the trees after the recent Hurricane. The trees all have nymphs living in them some of which look very distressed._

12:12pm

_A Satyr wearing one of those big Caribbean style woolly hats appears out of seemingly nowhere. He seems important, the other satyrs defer to him. He plays some pipes (reed pipes?) and the trees heal all by themselves! The nymphs seem to like him a lot, they smother him with kisses!_

12:34pm

_A huge dog appears and comes over and licks the head of the main Satyr. His hat falls off and he has a wild mane of ginger hair surrounding two prominent horns. The dog looks like a hellhound, but I thought they were supposed to be dangerous. The dog (hellhound?) is trailed by a pale young man wearing black, goth like. He seems on friendly terms with the Satyr, but also seems in a hurry. He whispers something to the Satyr, who nods and climbs onto the dog with the pale man. Sweet Lord! The dog vanished into thin air! The Shadow World gets stranger every day!_

With the Satyrs work done they all left and gave me very little to see in Shadow World activity. I got the newspaper out and started to read. Page five had what I was looking for.

'Massive Seven Vehicle Pileup on 5th Avenue!' The headline shouted with pictures to back it up.

'Many people had a lucky escape yesterday as an out of control truck rammed through stationary traffic at the corner of 5th Avenue and East 65th Street. The truck, with driver Ernie Wilson, 62 from Albany, suffered a brake failure as it approached the busy junction during rush hour traffic. The truck, its horn blaring, rammed its way through six immobile cars racing through the junction before ending up upturned in Central Park. Witnesses say the actions of the driver saved many lives and are holding Ernie Wilson up as a hero. Five people were taken to hospital with minor injuries.'

I snorted as I chucked the paper down. I'd seen what had really happened.

An Ice Giant, clear as day walked down 5th Avenue and kicked cars out of its way like they were footballs. A young blond man in shining golden armor wielding a huge sword flew (yes flew!) out of nowhere and seemed to fire off (or at least redirect) a bolt of lightning at the Ice Giant. I watched with my mouth agape as the Ice Giant screamed, and charged straight through the traffic at the flying man. For a second I was concerned for the man, the Ice Giant after all was at least 40 ft tall, but I needn't had, for the man, who hadn't even landed, deftly dodged the Giant's blow and sliced his sword through the neck of the monster. The Giant stumbled through a wall and crashed into the park. Then disappeared in flames!

To everyone else apart from me and the blond man it looked like a traffic accident. How could this be? It couldn't be two worlds merged into one the facts didn't quite fit, it was more like just one world hidden from the other, but that theory brought up the fact that it had to be controlled by some intelligence, who knew how to blind people with false visions. It was too much to think about so I continued to observe and report. My logs were getting quite extensive, and I had described many different monsters, creatures and beings, and their apparent abilities, along with a number of young warrior men and women (and boys and girls) who seemingly had superpowers. The man yesterday made me think of Zeus with the lightning, I'd already knew of the Greek connection with the Shadow World, I knew I would have to pursue that avenue further.

I was interrupted in my thoughts by a crashing sound and I looked over the edge of the rooftop to see a mean looking giant making his way down the street. Not as big as the Ice Giant, but a ten foot tall ugly looking thing I had previously tentatively identified as a Laistrygonian. They were the cannibals encountered by Odysseus and ten foot was quite a big one. I could see the battle lines forming in my head, but with whom? I looked around the streets and spied a young warrior girl, no more than fourteen years old strolling up the street. She had some red armor over her shoulders covering an orange t-shirt and jeans, but had a large sword in a scabbard and was carrying a large spear. I could see the potential battles in my head instantly, and none looked good for the girl, but I lacked any knowledge of her abilities. I wanted to warn her but had no way of doing so. I ran for the fire escape.

I slid down the downpipe and missed out the fire escape altogether sliding eight floors all the way to the bottom hitting the dumpster hard and falling painfully to the floor. I ran out of the alley, and I could hear that the fight was already on. I turned the corner to see the girl standing fast with a sword in her hand, but her spear was broken on the floor.

Run! I wanted to say, I couldn't see a scenario where she could win this fight, but I was too far away still and I didn't want the monster to turn on me. I was unarmed and untrained.

"Clarisse!" The girl screamed.

"Clarisse! I Need You!"

Clarisse, whoever she was, didn't show, and the beast ripped a street sign out of the ground and swung it at the girl. I'll give her credit, she was fast, but she wasn't fast enough. The sign struck her sword arm and I could hear it break from my position. The girl screamed piteously. The giant showed no mercy, and sneered happily as it picked up the girl's sword and without pause viciously impaled her in the chest. I stopped cold and nearly threw up. I'd never witnessed a murder before, and the gurgle of the poor girls dying breath made me want to simultaneously pass out and explode with rage. Luckily for me, I chose the second option. The Giant had discarded the bloody sword and was picking at the girls wounds, I crept up to the Giant and even when it should have heard me, it ignored me. I picked up the sword, and the monster did nothing, just gave me a glance and re-focused back onto the poor girl's corpse.

It couldn't see me! It didn't recognise me as a Shadow World being! I wasted no time and stabbed the sword though the beast's back, where it screamed once looked at me accusingly and vanished in a cloud of flames and smoke. I rushed to check on the girl, but I already knew there was nothing I could do. I checked her pulse and noticed the beaded necklace around her neck wondering if it meant anything. On her bloody t-shirt I could make out the words Half –Blood, which made me snort with grim humor considering what we were both covered with.

"Kaitlen?" A strong voice said.

I looked up to see a very tall woman in full battle armor carrying the biggest spear I'd ever seen.

My mind ran the scenarios through it. I was in trouble. I was standing over the girl, covered in her blood, I was carrying the sword that killed her, with her blood still on it, with no sign apart from some random damage that the Laistrygonian had ever existed. From my minds battle prediction I knew I could not hope to defeat this warrior, and from the growing anger I could sense in her she was going to kill me outright and very soon.

"It wasn't-" I stammered

"I am Clarisse La Rue! Daughter of Ares! And by the God of War I will strike you down like the fucking dog you are!" She shouted and the ground trembled with her righteous anger. She pointed her spear at me and the tip crackled with electricity.

I did what any normal person would do. I ran like hell.


	2. Pursuit

**Chapter Two**

**Pursuit**

The woman named Clarisse wasted no time setting off in pursuit of me immediately. I had some advantages though. One, I was fast. I think it must have surprised her but it didn't show, she just looked furious. Two, I wasn't wearing heavy armor and Three, I was a strategist. I sprinted around the corner away from the park figuring my plan in my head only to find a young male warrior running in my direction from a hundred yards or so straight ahead. Clarisse must have signalled him somehow because he drew two flaming swords and accelerated towards me. My plan changed immediately and I saw my only option was to take the back alley I was in earlier, and since it was a dead end the only way was up.

I hoped onto the dumpster and up the pipe faster than I ever had before and was at the third floor fire exit before Clarisse and her friend came into view.

"Cato! Bow and arrow NOW!" I heard Clarisse order. I looked around to see the boy called Cato sheath his swords behind his back and hand Clarisse a bow and arrow. I looked over the edge to see her notch an arrow and fire it at my head faster than I could believe it could be done. I surprised myself in catching the arrow out of the air, mere inches from my left eye. I wasn't the only one surprised. Clarisse growled and fired another arrow which I dodged easily even though I was only thirty feet or so away. I turned and easily kicked the boarded up window in and jumped inside. I stopped and listened, it's not like I had many places to go.

"He's got demigod reflexes!" Cato spat out.

"Maybe he's one of the Roman scum, I've never trusted them." Notching another arrow. "Call the others, lock down this building and see if you can get our heroic blond beauty to check out the roof. He's a killer and we must stop him at all costs!"

I had to work fast, if Zeus man turned up I was in all sorts of trouble. I leapt up the rotting stairs nimbly avoiding all the rats scurrying for cover. When I reached the roof I opened the door quietly and looked around. No sign of anyone, flying or otherwise. I crept to the edge and risked a peek over. The warriors had multiplied and they had what looked like a gold chariot! I concentrated and listened with my excellent hearing.

"He killed Kaitlen! I found him standing over her holding her sword covered in her blood!" Clarisse boomed.

"But you didn't see it happen? A reasonable voice asked.

"Don't mess with me, Solace, one of my sisters has been murdered in broad daylight and you are questioning me? You Apollo scum are all the same! I need action!"

"You don't need action Clarisse, you need vengeance. It's in your nature, now did you see this person murder Kaitlen?" The Solace person asked, not giving an inch.

"No, I was about 10 seconds too late, but there was no one else around, Come on Will, help me out here, it's getting dark, he could be getting away!" Clarisse toned it down a little

"OK Clarisse, but he's not to be killed. Captured only until we know the full truth, do you Understand?" Will Solace ordered calmly.

"It had to be him! No one-" Clarisse started, but was cut off by Will.

"You know how our universe exists right? It could have been a monster or a shape shifter or a simple manipulation of the mist, hell it could have even been a godly intervention! We must know the truth! Never assume! Now what does he look like?" Will demanded, and Clarisse gave in.

"Five foot eleven about fifteen or sixteen years old, short clipped black hair and green eyes. He's wearing a red hoodie with black combat pants and climbing boots. He's also carrying Kaitlen's celestial bronze sword. He has demigod reflexes." Clarisse explained.

"He must be if he can hold a celestial bronze sword and not many people could get past you, Clarisse. Roman maybe?" Will enquired.

"I've reviewed all their files and met most of them, and I've never seen this guy. C'mon Will, he could be getting away!"

"Don't worry Clarisse, I've got this whole block surrounded. We have all of Ares and Apollo here now. An untrained demigod do you think?" Will pondered.

"If he is, I don't see how he could've survived this long. I wonder who his parent is?" Clarisse pondered. Do we have anymore help coming in or are we going to have to take this building by ourselves?"

"We've got the hunters coming in." Will stated. There were a few groans.

"Thalia will take all the bloody glory for this one!" Cato moaned.

"Not our blond hero from yesterday?" Clarisse sneered.

"Jason is required elsewhere, it's just us and the hunters, and that should be sufficient, don't you think?"

I'd heard enough. It seems like I was up against two squads of warriors with the designations Ares and Apollo and was facing off against a third before too long, ominously called the hunters. I sprung into action.

I opened the small shed and opened a rucksack. I stripped of my clothes and changed into a spare set, all in black. I wrapped up the sword in newspaper and placed the blade in the rucksack with the handle sticking out of the top added a few more things such as my diary and some tools, and placed it on my back. I looked over at the next building in the block, it was four floors higher than my building and it didn't have a flat roof, but it wasn't insurmountable. I started to climb some piping until I was on the sloping roof of the next building along. I carefully edged my way along it until I found what I was looking for, a telegraph cable. The cable ran across the road to a high pole on the edge of Central Park. Figuring it was dark enough now I took a crowbar out of the rucksack and placed it over the cable. I didn't hesitate for a second. I slid across the road and hit the pole and slid down it in one smooth quiet motion.

As I hit the sidewalk, I checked back to see what attention, I'd created. I smiled as no-one even looked in my direction. All too easy. I looked up to see a white glowing chariot land on the roof of my building, I ducked into the park unseen and unheard.

I found a quiet bench to sit down and rest a while. I took out a Snickers bar and mindlessly started to chew on it. I took out my diary and started to write.

19:39

_Laistrygonian kills girl (Kaitlen) who belongs to a group called Ares. Laistrygonian disintegrated by me with Kaitlen's sword, which is apparently made of a material called celestial bronze. _

19:40

_Chased by another Ares called Clarisse, she appears to be the leader of the Ares group (she claimed to be the daughter of Ares!). She intends to kill me, she is joined by yet another Ares called Cato. They call themselves demigods and think I might be one. They are very militaristic, good with weapons._

Other useful information

_There is another group called Apollo and they are more reasoned. Leader seemed to be a reasonable character called Will Solace. The groups seem to work together, but don't seem to get along very well. Apollo group uses gold chariots._

_Another group called the Hunters, led by Thalia. They have glowing white chariots._

_The flying lightning man is called Jason, the Ares group don't seem to like him very much_

_Celestial bronze can only be carried by a demigod._

_What is a demigod?_

_What is the Mist?_

_What is 'Godly Intervention'?_

I stopped writing. I had a lot of good new info, but even more questions.

I sat back and heard beautiful music coming from the park. My senses came alive in an instant, but not quite quick enough. Vines twisted around my feet and pinned me firmly in place. I froze in place when a voice in my ear whispered quietly to me.

"Clarisse will gut you like a pig when she finds you, what say I give her a call?"


	3. Escape Plan

**Chapter Three**

**Escape Plan**

To my surprise, it wasn't a young warrior saying those words, it was the lead goatman, complete with his rasta hat ginger beard and utterly strange double jointed furry legs complete with hooves.

"Good Evening faun." I said calmly. I wasn't going to give in to these mad people.

"Satyr." He said tersely."

"Ahh what's the difference?" I said dismissively.

"I'm Greek aspect not Roman." He snapped, like I should understand what he meant. "Don't change the subject, you are being hunted by my compatriots, give me a reason not to give you to them."

"Compatriots? Not friends?"

"Some of them are friends, I owe some of them my life."

"But not Clarisse?" I smiled. This guy seemed pretty easy to read.

"It's irrelevant who my friends are." He snapped. "They want you."

"Was Kaitlen your friend?" I tested.

The satyr the proceeded to produce a very large club from behind his back and pointed it towards my face.

"Kaitlen was a very good friend, I found her, I rescued her and now she's dead, and here you are, accused of killing her and trying to wind me up about it? What say I don't call Clarisse and smash your head in right now?" He said in a threatening tone. I decided that I had misjudged this goat.

"Look, I'm sorry, I've just had a load of warriors try to kill me, not capture, kill. I am not in the best of moods either, and for further reference, I didn't kill her."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Do I look capable of murdering teenage girls with a sword for no reason?"

He stared at me. Thinking, calculating.

"You have her sword."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I needed a weapon."

"It belongs to house Ares."

"Not any more, it belongs to me." I said looking him in the eye. He looked frustrated, and came to the realisation that he would have to try a different approach.

"Tell me what happened." He asked reasonably.

"I was observing your lot." I stated bluntly

"My lot?" He looked confused.

"You know monsters, beasts, warriors and satyrs."

"You can see through the mist?" He asked. The Mist, is that what they called the shadow world? A veil over the eyes of most people, but not me.

"I guess so." I shrugged.

"For how long?" He enquired.

"Six months maybe." I answered. He looked pained.

"And you observed Kaitlen?"

"Yes from the top of the building across the road."

"And what did you see?"

"I saw her walking into the ambush of a giant."

"A Giant?"

"Yep. At least 10 feet tall, and ugly as hell." The goatman sighed loudly.

"Kaitlen couldn't handle a Laistrygonian on her own." He said somberly.

"No. I knew that instantly, I rushed to warn her, but was not quite fast enough. The giant killed her with her own sword. He dropped the sword and started….I don't know what he started, and I don't want to think about it, but he didn't notice me and I picked up the sword and killed him, he fucking disintegrated and left me standing there with a dying girl when Clarisse ran around the corner."

Goatman cringed.

"I've been on the run from her, Will Solace and Thalia ever since. If it wasn't for my reflexes, I'd be dead already." I said menacingly.

"You evaded the combined talents of Ares, Apollo and Artemis? Three of the finest houses at camp? That's some serious skill!"

I shrugged. "Not so hard."

"I caught you though." He smiled, mockingly.

"Think so?" The look on his face was priceless as I stepped out of the tangle of vines and lifted up the bronze sword. I'd untangled and cut myself free so discretely the goat had failed to notice. I only needed to make myself enough time. "Now goat man we talk on equal terms. I will not be your prisoner again." I said with all the authority I could muster.

"My name is Grover, not goat man."

"Are you going to try to impede me, Grover? Because I'm leaving now, before the others decide to check the park."

"No. Will you answer two questions for me?"

"If you are brief." I answered impatiently.

"Your name? I gave you mine." It seemed reasonable enough.

"Alex. That's all you are getting for now." I wasn't going to let them trace me.

"Okay Alex, do you know both your mother and your father?" He asked.

What a weird question.

"Yes, I still live with both of my parents."

"You know this for sure?" This seemed really important to him.

The truth was I wasn't sure. I'd seen baby pictures, so they'd had me since I was a baby, but I really couldn't say for sure, because I suspected otherwise.

"See you later, Grover." I rushed off into the tree line before he could ask anymore.

I took off through the park as fast as I could manage, knowing not many people could keep up with me, jumped down a wall onto the transverse road and headed to Central Park West. I stayed vigilant, but saw no sign of pursuit, I guess Grover must have believed me. I found a Subway line and caught a northbound train on the 6 Avenue Express. I would have to change to the Lexington Avenue Express and come back down the East side of the park to get home. Meanwhile I gave some consideration to the nights actions in my diary.

_The Shadow World, as I called it, they call 'The Mist' I shall refer t it as through the Mist from now on._

_They have a camp for their warriors, in which they have houses named after Greek gods. Have heard Zeus, Ares, Apollo and Artemis. Must research further. What are the other Greek Gods?_

_Head Satyr (not faun!) is called Grover. He has nature magic of some sort and considers himself a kind of protector, but for what? He found and rescued Kaitlen? What does this mean? The others seemed to find it odd that I would survive so maybe there are other kids that have my gift and somehow it's dangerous._

_ and the satyrs help find us! What did they call me again? A demigod? More research!_

"Whatcha doin, Poindexter?" I heard from across the carriage. I looked up to see a teenager, about eighteen, leering at me.

"I said, whacha doin, ya little shit!" He sneered as he batted the dairy out of my hands. I looked up to see we were the only people in the carriage. I sat back and focused on the situation, it took me the merest fraction of a second.

_Male, 18, 6 foot one inch, right handed, good eyesight, gang member, no formal training. Brawler._

_Has a six inch switchblade in his right pocket, can access it in two seconds, not scared to use it._

_Cocky, arrogant, feeling superior, aka a bully. Indoctrinated gang behaviour. Thief._

_Initial assessment: He will attack me as things stand. He is bigger and more agreeable to violence._

_Option One: Run. Nowhere to run, no exit points He will catch me. Not an option_

_Option Two: Fight. He is much bigger than me in cramped conditions. No improvised weapons available. I am not experience in fighting, even with a sword. Not an option._

_Option Three: Surprise. This leads to option two. He will lash out at anything unexpected. Not an option._

_Option Four: Talk. I won't change his mind. He is a bully, he has made his initial move, he will not back down, and he does not feel in anyway threatened by me. Not an option_

_Option Five: Make him reconsider with self preservation. Use sword as threat, distract until next stop. I consider option five as a seventy-eight percent chance of success._

I reached over my back and pulled the sword from my backpack and rested it on my lap.

The potential assailant immediately reconsidered his stance, with much thought focusing on his self preservation, but it was matched by his bravado.

"Nice baseball bat. What say I take it from you?" He sneered.

Baseball bat? I looked at my sword and shook my head. I knew he wasn't going to attack immediately.

"You can take it from my cold dead fingers, but not before I break every bone in your fucking body, which I will if you take so much as one step closer to me." I said with as much menace as I could muster.

"Think you're hard, little man? I'll cut you." He said pulling his switchblade from his pocket.

"Try it, and I will give you more pain than you can imagine."

He wavered and looked again at my bat (sword) and I could sense he was changing his mind but was looking for a way out. It came through the screeching of the trains brakes. The train stopped and doors opened. Some people got on and he put his knife in his pocket quickly. I headed for the exit at the back of the rail car.

"Better hope I don't run into you again little man, you won't get away next time and I'll hurt you bad, you hear!" He sneered as I exited. I left him to his macho posturing and left the station.

I'd gotten off a few stops early and had to walk a few blocks, but I didn't mind, it gave me some time to think over things, and I didn't want to talk to my parents right now. As I approached home I saw Harry, who ran the newspaper stall in the distance (my eyesight is exceptional) with his hand on the shoulder of a teenage girl with red hair. He gave her something shiny that I couldn't make out and hailed a cab for her. She got in and Harry continued his on his way directly towards me, his long white beard blowing gently in the evening breeze. Eventually we reached each other.

"Hi Harry! Nice evening!" I greeted him cheerily. It was nice to see a familiar face after the night I'd had.

"Hi Alex! It's a lovely evening! Nice Sword! Celestial bronze?" Harry said inspecting me closely.

My jaw dropped.


End file.
